Intentions to Marry, 1884

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840396, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 419

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 31 December 1884

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
426	15 December 1884	Peter Davidson Helen Rhind	Peter Davidson Helen Rhind 💍 1884/662	Bachelor Spinster	Traveller	23 21	Christchurch Christchurch	2 years 4 days	House of Revd. Plustie, Lichfield Street	84/3135		15 December 1884	Revd. J. Plustie, Presbyterian
427	15 December 1884	Frederick Elwood Sarah Chainey	Fredrick Elwood Sarah Chainey 💍 1884/1493	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Servant	29 26	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 25 years	House of Mrs. Chainey, Ed Road	84/3288		15 December 1884	Revd. R. Best, Wesleyan
428	17 December 1884	Edward Sinclair Louisa Jane Wortley	Edward Sinclair Louisa Jane Wortley 💍 1884/3471	Bachelor Spinster	Accountant	39 33	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Avonside Church	84/3299		17 December 1884	Revd. W. A. Pascoe, Church of England
429	17 December 1884	Thomas Sinclair Bridget Flynn	Martin Kieley Bridget Flynn 💍 1885/1474	Bachelor Spinster	Laborer Servant	26 21	Christchurch Christchurch	3 months 9 months	Roman Catholic Church			17 December 1884	Revd. L. M. Geraty, Roman Catholic
430	18 December 1884	James Brown Isabella Group	James Brown Isabella Troup 💍 1884/1559	Widower Widow	Farmer	53 47	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 3 days	Registrars Office	84/3343		18 December 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Packerson
431	18 December 1884	Philipp Misch Anne Williams Kerr	Philipp Tisch Anne Williams Kerr 💍 1884/1562	Widower Widow	Farmer	63 52	Avonside St. Albans	3 years 12 years	Registrars Office	84/3346		18 December 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Packerson
432	18 December 1884	George Evans Sarah Allen	George Evans Sarah Allen 💍 1884/1560	Widower Widow	Groom Housekeeper	38 29	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 9 years	Registrars Office	84/3344		18 December 1884	Registrar of Marriages, J. M. Packerson
433	18 December 1884	Walter John King Amelia Emma Magdalene Miller	Walter John King Amelia Emma Magdalene Miller 💍 1885/650	Bachelor Spinster	Blacksmith Servant	22 19	Christchurch Christchurch	6 years 19 years	St. Lukes Church			18 December 1884	Revd. Z. Lavington
434	18 December 1884	Richard Carter Elizabeth Luke	Richard Carter Elizabeth Luke 💍 1884/3487	Bachelor Spinster	Dairyman	23 19	Riccarton Sydenham	3 years 10 years	House of William Luke, Pound Road	84/3292	William Luke, Father	18 December 1884	Revd. J. Crump, Wesleyan

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1898. More registers will be added when the Archives NZ Wellington reading room re-opens in September 2025.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).